Ben Kingsley

Biography

Born

12/31/1943
,
Snaiton, North Yorkshire, England

Birth Name

Krishna Bhanji

Gender

Male

Biography:

By origin half-Indian and half-European, Ben was born and brought up in the north of England. His father, Dr Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, who was born in Kenya of Indian descent, was educated in England, while Ben's mother, Anna, was an English actress and fashion model of Russian and Jewish origins. Ben's Indian grandfather came from a plantation-owning family in Gujarat, northern India (which was also Ghandi's home state) and went on to become a leading dealer in spices on the island of Zanzibar.Ben grew up in Salford and was educated at Manchester Grammar School, where he first began to shine as an actor. After school he began to plan an acting career and anglicized his name to gain access to a wider variety of roles. At the age of twenty-one, Ben was turned down for a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London, but was taken on by a touring group called 'The Children's Theatre'. In 1967, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Ben's early movie parts, in Fear Is the Key (1972) and Hard Labour (1973), made a low-key impression, and he carried on working mainly in the theatre until he played the lead role in Gandhi (1982), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Since Gandhi, he has had dozens of good screen roles.Knighted in 2001, Sir Ben married Alexandra Christmann in September, 2003, and now lives in Oxfordshire, England. He has four children from his two previous marriages, to actress Angela Morant and to Alison Sutcliffe, a theatre director. One of Ben's three sons, Edmund Kingsley, graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2003. Ben's son Ferdinand (born 1988) is also an actor and has been performing with The Playbox Theatre Company in Warwick since the age of four. Ferdinand is also hoping to go to RADA. Ben's other children are called Thomas and Jasmine.

GOLDEN GLOBE WINS AND NOMINATIONS:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama:

Gandhi (1982) (win)House of Sand and Fog (2003) (nomination)

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:

Bugsy (1991) (nomination)Sexy Beast (2001) (nomination)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:

Anne Frank (2001) (nomination)Mrs. Harris (2006) (nomination)

EMMY NOMINATIONS: (no wins)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE:

Joseph (1995)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE:

Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989)Anne Frank (2001)

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